Being versus Doing

For the past several months, there has been a great deal of uncertainty as to where I will be focusing my time and attention. This uncertainty has brought with it a level of anxiety and a desire to have the uncertainty eliminated.

Recently, I've noticed that even though there is still a fair amount of uncertainty, the level of anxiety and the desire to have the uncertainty eliminated have drastically diminished. At first I thought I had simply become used to living in the midst of the uncertainty. But on further reflection, I realize that something more basic has occurred.

I've always struggled with putting too much of my significance on what I do (as noted in the previous post). There is an alternative...and that is to place our significance on who we are. Or, saying something similar with different language, drawing our identity from who we are rather than what we do. Focusing on being rather than doing.

One way to measure where we are deriving our identity is the level of anxiety regarding the future...especially when the future is unclear regarding our activitites. If our identity is based upon our actions rather than who we are, then the level of anxiety will be quite high. But if our identity is based on who we are which is not uncertain, then the level of anxiety will be much less.

We can't control the world in which we undertake our doings. However, we can control how much significance we place on those doings, and instead ground our identity in who we are in Christ. That's something that will never change!

The View

I've spent too much time the past several months struggling with my emotions on a particular issue. There have been days when I'm extremely frustrated, only to have those emotions radically change only a few days later when I'm able to get a more distant view of the situation. By distant view, I mean seeing the situation from a different perspective...an eternal perspective. The change in my emotions has been dramatic! I will go from being very frustrated, to a sense of complete calm, or even caring very little about the issue.

Absolutely amazing!

As I think through the reason that this perspective change is so powerful, I find that the key issue is how I am drawing my significance. We are all created by God with 2 critical needs. We have a critical need to be loved and a critical need to have impact or significance. These are not optional. If they are not met in some way, we begin to contemplate suicide.

Men I understand tend to be more concerned about their significance and that is certainly the case for me. To allow my significance to simply float out in the ether is not possible. Though the "thing" on which I may base my significance may change, I realize that I am always basing my significance on something.

Another way of looking at this is how I view myself...my identity. My identity is always going to be tied into my significance. If I see myself first as a physician, then odds are pretty good that I'm drawing most of my significance from my role as a physician. If I see myself first as a son of the living God, then my significance rests upon that which is eternal and unchanging.

I have a choice...do I want to base my significance on something that changes and is affected by the world, or do I want to base it upon a Person who never changes and who can't be changed? It's rather obvious which it should be...but it raises the question of why I can't maintain that position. Why is it that I can start a day basing my significance on who I am in the Lord, and within 2 hours...I've allowed it to be placed on something temporary and volatile? It's easy to know when that happens since that's when emotions can be elicited in ways that are not always good. 

That is the real question...how do we maintain our identity in the Lord...or another way of phrasing it...an eternal perspective in the midst of personal attacks or the stress of a difficult day? That will be the topic of many posts to come!

It's all about the heart...

The older I get, the more I realize that it really is all about the heart! By that I mean that a person's actions, attitudes, reactions, passion, goals, success and whole direction of life arise out of the heart. That doesn't mean that the person necessarily realizes this reality. In fact, I suspect that most people live like I did for many years...unaware of the ways that their heart was affecting them.

Proverbs 4:23 has been a key verse for author John Eldredge and for good reason. The NIV translation is: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." There are two essential points of the verse. First of all, the writer warns that we must guard our heart "...above all else...". Above all else means that we are to care for our hearts before we care for our bodies, our minds, even before our souls! The heart refers to that part of us that contains not only our emotions, but also our motivations, disappointments, dreams, and aspirations. It is the seat of our very reason for living. Someone with a healthy "heart" will never contemplate suicide. Thus the reason to "guard" our hearts! A healthy heart is expressed through things like dance, music, poetry, and ultimately joy!

The second part of this verse contains the statement that everything we do flows from the heart. That's quite a statement! Everything we do...whether good or bad...whether mundane or exciting...flows out of the heart. The heart is in fact our internal generator. It powers all of our actions and also sets the direction of our life. If we have received the new covenant heart, our hearts will be good and our actions will bear good fruit.

I've learned how critical it is to take time to feed my heart. The "heart food" we need is different for each of us. For me, a day of quiet like today in front of the fire rates pretty high on the heart scale. Add in some great books, time on the guitar and it only gets better! After a day like that, I'm prepared to tackle most anything...as the Lord is with me!